| Purpose | Time of Burn | Size of Burn | Type of fire | Frequency | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REDUCE FUELS | Winter | Large enough to break fuel continuity | Heavy rough-backfire. Moderate to light roughs-Strip-Head | 2 to 4 years | For plantation maintenance burns, annual head fires may be used after reducing heavy roughs by an initial backfire |
| IMPROVE WILDLIFE HABITAT | General- protect transitional fringe areas | ||||
| Deer | Winter preferred | 200+ acres† | Winter-backfire | 3 to 5 years | In south central Alabama, late fawning rules out summer burns |
| Turkey | Winter preferred-avoid March thru July; Summer burns-August only | 200+ acres† | Winter-backfire, Summer-Strip-head | 3 to 5 years | |
| Quail | Winter only | Checkerboard or strip if over 160acres | Backfire or strip-head | 2 years | Leave thickets, stream bottoms |
| Dove | Winter | Not critical | Not critical | Leave thickets, stream bottoms | |
| Waterfowl | Winter | Not critical | Not critical | Not recommended in hardwood sites-marshy areas only (exposes seeds and roots) | |
| CONTROL DISEASE | Brownspot- Winter | Dependent on infected area-include buffer strip | Backfire or strip-head (strip-head with higher humidities and light fuels is usually best | 2 to 3 years | Avoid leaving unburned pockets of infected seedlings within or immediately adjacent to burn if possible |
| ENHANCE APPEARANCE | Winter | Varies with each individual situation-generally small | Backfire | 1 to 5 years | Requires precise prescriptions to protect vegetative type changes. Recognize effect on annual and biennial flowering plants. Provide pleasing visual lines. Time and method of burning may be critical to public acceptance |
| PREPARE SITES FOR SEEDING AND PLANTING | Planting: Growing season for hardwood control, fall and winter for planting. Direct seeding: fall and winter for spring sowing. In some areas previous winter for fall sowing of longleaf. Natural seeding: summer and early fall prior to natural seed fall | Large enough to prevent concentrations of birds & rodents(usually 10 acres or more) | Planting or Direct seeding: ring fire in slash areas; flank or strip-head fire. Natural seedling: summer-strip-head. Winter: Backfire | Recognize impact on water and wildlife resources since these are generally hot fires | |
| MANAGE UNDERSTORY VEGETATION | Heavy roughs-winter, Moderate roughs-winter, spring, or summer | Not critical | Winter-backfire Spring and summer-back or strip-head | Varies with management objectives | Summer burns generally result in higher mortality and affect larger stems. Exclude fire from desirable hardwoods in hardwood and pine hardwood types |
| IMPROVE FORAGE | Winter for most situations. Split burn if possible(Ex. Dec. and Feb.) | Dependent on size of ownership | Not critical but relate to other resources | 3 to 4 years | Split burn provides higher nutritional values over a longer period. Individual grass and forb species respond differently to fire. Knowledge of species present and reaction to fire important |
| IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY | Will vary with species, understory, desired use. | Varies with individual situation | The more rough- the less intense burning technique should be used. | Objectives for burn will influence size, time frequency of burn. Coordinate with other resource objectives | |
†Size of ownership, adjacent land use, etc. may effect size of burn: i.e. on a 200 acre tract, burns of 40 to 60 acres per year provide variety of conditions
For smoke management purposes, use a backing fire whenever possible, as this technique produces less particulate matter.